Stem Cells in Bone Marrow Transplant- Regenerative Medicine/ Stem Cell Therapy
A bone marrow transplant, also known as a stem cell transplant, helps your body to replace the soft, fatty tissue inside your bones that has been damaged or destroyed by disease, infection or chemotherapy.
The procedure involves transplanting blood stem cells which travel to the bone marrow, where they produce new blood cells and start the growth of new marrow.
While the procedure itself is painless, there are several stages that need to be completed over weeks – plus recovery time. Mya Care is here to help you find the best hospital for bone marrow transplant in India, or any other country, ensuring your health is in the best hands.
Preparation and what to expect
Whether you choose to have a bone marrow transplant in Mumbai, a bone marrow transplant in Bangalore or anywhere else in the world, the procedure will vary only slightly. To give you an idea of what to expect, we have summarized the procedures for both the donor and the patient.
- Testing - to ensure the procedure is suitable for you, a general health test will be conducted. This is likely to include an ECG and echocardiogram to check the heart, a CT scan for vital organs such as the lungs and liver, and blood tests to check the liver and kidneys. If you have cancer and are in remission, you may also require a biopsy to determine the risk of the cancer returning after the procedure
- Harvesting - there are three ways that stem cells are harvested for transplant. Either through blood, from bone marrow (the donor will undergo a procedure to have a sample of bone marrow removed from their hip) or from donated cord blood
- Conditioning - to prepare your body for the transplant, high doses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy are administered to destroy remaining bone marrow and existing cancer cells, and to stop your immune system reacting, reducing chances of your body rejecting the transplant
- Transplanting - transplanting the cells is likely to be completed 1-2 days after your body has been prepared to receive the new cells. Putting the stem cells into your body via the central line takes just a few hours and is painless.
- Recovery - Donors can expect to be back in action 1-7 days after donating stem cells. Patients receiving stem cells will need longer to recover. As a patient, you can expect to be monitored in hospital for a few weeks after the transplant has taken place to prevent infection and assess whether your body is accepting the new cells and growth is taking place.
Post-operative care
A bone marrow transplant comes with some side-effects, however these are temporary. Nausea, hair loss and fatigue are some of the symptoms you may experience while you are recovering from the procedure.
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